LegalSounds Review
Contents:
The Scoop on LegalSounds
LegalSounds isn’t the best looking website we’ve seen, or the easiest to navigate around, but they are by far the largest and the cheapest, priced at just 9¢ per track. LegalSounds have been running since 2005 and their service is getting better all the time. Our verdict: Amazingly cheap mp3s, although the homepage doesn’t ever seem to change (makes us wonder who’s at the other end), the site is updated so they have the very latest mp3s on the market at the lowest price. This is a very good site but can be slow at times, although this has gotten better over the last few months. The site is worth staying on if you can wait for it to load…
Signing Up
Signing up to LegalSounds is not as quick as other sites, but does seem a little more secure considering they will be handling your credit cards details. They ask you for a security question and answer in case you forget your password. With other sites we have seen, you can opt out of receiving email alerts, although the weekly emails they send are quite informative, showing the latest new releases and most downloaded tracks. LegalSounds give you a free song after sign up, and everyday after that. The ingeniously named ‘Free Song of the Day’. They also give you US Top 40 singles once you’ve joined the site.
Payment Options and Offers
LegalSounds accept Visa, MasterCard, uKash or PaySafe as forms of payment. The minimum top up to your account is $25.00 which is higher than most other sites. This amount applies everytime you want to top up your account, however, if you’re willing to top up with more than the minimum, they do give you some pretty good offers: Top up $39.00 to get 50 free songs, top up $50.00 to get 80 free songs, top up $100.00 to get 200 free songs or top up $200.00 to get 2000 free songs.
Special deals, updates and all other site offers can be seen on our Offers page.
Prices
Prices are fixed on the site, at 9¢ each. Album prices however, vary depending on the number of tracks an album has. LegalSounds are one of the few sites we review that do not offer their customers a discount when they buy a full album instead the individual tracks. So, for example, if an album has ten tracks, it will cost you $0.90. (Ten tracks at 9¢ each = $0.90)
Music Selection
The site has over 2,135,000 tracks to browse through, so we have no doubt that you will find something. It’s one of the largest libraries, containing new releases, charts and most downloaded mp3s on the web. The site also allows previews of music before you purchase it to make sure you’re getting the right song. This is a low quality preview, the actual songs you download are a much higher quality. There’s album images too, but these are only displayed on the top of the page in a small box which can be expanded if you wish to see more albums.
Search Facility
The search facility on LegalSounds lacks basic search functions such as searching by genre, but does allow you to search the charts by a few odd genres, by country/region and their internet albums. Looking for a track can be tricky, once you have found the search box on the busy website; the results are displayed in a list of tracks, even if you search for an album or artist. You can then choose to purchase a specific track, click on artist for more results or the album name to purchase the whole album. However, their search facility has improved dramatically over the last few months and is getting easier to use as well as providing more accurate results.
Getting Tracks to your PC
Downloading mp3s on the site is all well and good, but how do you actually get them onto something that plays mp3s? As with most mp3 download sites, you’re ‘downloads’ from LegalSounds are stored in your ‘My Downloads’ section. This means the songs are brought, but not downloaded to your pc. All songs you download will stay here, so if you ever lose the original, you can re-download them without having to re-purchase them. To get them onto your pc, you need to right-click on its name and select ‘Save target as…’ or ‘Save link as…’. You will then be asked where you want to save this to. It is best to save it either in ‘My Music’ or in ‘My Downloads’ on your pc. You can then use them as you would any other mp3 on your pc. They can be transferred to mp3 players, phones etc. Click here to see how to get them onto iTunes: iTunes Help Guide. LegalSounds also invite users to, in their words, to ‘download the free downloader’. This seems all good at first, but upon closer inspection and after reading about it, it is just a website in a new window without being on the web. Full instructions on how to download and use the ‘Downloader’ can be found on our blog here: LegalSounds Downloader Guide.
File formats & Bitrates
LegalSounds only offer mp3 tracks, which means they can be played on almost every mp3 device you can think of. They are DRM free too so you can put your newly downloaded mp3s wherever you like. There’s no limitation on where you can play them or how many copies you want to keep. Song quality ranges from 192-320kbps. See full descriptions of: DRM Free Music and Quality
Will it work with my iPod/iTunes?
Yes it will. All songs downloaded from LegalSounds will work with your iPod, iTunes, iPhone and anything else you have beginning with i. They will also work with Windows Media Player, Winamp, and various other bits and bobs. They will play on your mobile phone, laptop, can be put onto CD’s or whatever else your heart desires. Read how to put you’re downloads into your iTunes Library here: iTunes Guide.
Just music?
No Audiobooks, No Videos, No mp4′s, just good, solid mp3s.
Download Manager
The LegalSounds Download Manager is one of the the sites main attractions; it makes the site a little bit more special than others! Yoiu can download the manager for free from their site, without getting bugs or viruses. The manager allows you to queue music ready for download, pause downloads and keep track of your account balance, what you’ve downloaded and a load of other great features. For a more details guide of how to use it, see our Download Manager Guide.
Date: 11th November 2009
It really has made music so much more accessible, I love it, I'm addicted.
Quality is good, payment is easy, downloading it easy and the price is really good too.
Date: 18th November 2009
*great web site
*excelent download manager software
*good music price
Cons:
*the song of the day seems to be more a song of the week - there appears to be a few of pre-selected tracks going in a loop
Date: 5th December 2009
Date: 17th December 2009
Date: 14th December 2009
How do you prove if it is legal or not? It depends who you read. The site's longevity is a good thing. Certainly feels more honourable that blatant rip sites such as file sharing.
Occasionally requested music can take a while to load.
Date: 21st March 2010
Date: 15th March 2010
Date: 14th March 2010
Date: 2nd March 2010
Date: 2nd March 2010
LegalSounds give you 40 songs for registering and let you listen to tracks before you even think about paying. Once you've paid, your money will literally last FOREVER, with no pressure to top up again which rocks my world :)
Date: 16th April 2010
Date: 1st April 2010
Date: 9th January 2010
I was sick of paying so much for iTunes music, I found LegalSounds and couldn't believe the price, I still can't! But, apparently it's legal, so that works for me!
I filled my new iPhone up with just a few $. Have that iTunes!
Leave your review here:
Summary:
Min Top Up:
Album Discount:
Registration Bonus:
Music Library:
Payment Methods:
$25.00
0%
US Top 40 singles
2,135,000
Visa, MasterCard, uKash or PaySafe
